Nifty ends higher for second straight day

The local benchmark, Nifty witnessed a good day of trade and ended the session higher by over half a percent, above its crucial 11950 level. After getting positive start, the index continued its momentum throughout the day, supported by optimism witnessed among the investors with a report that Union Cabinet approved changes to the insolvency law, including a provision to ring-fence successful resolution applicants from criminal proceedings with regard to offences committed by previous promoters of a company. The amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) are aimed at removing certain difficulties being faced during insolvency resolution process to realise the objects of the Code and to further ease doing of business.

The local index held its gaining streak for the remaining part of the session, as traders were getting encouragement, ahead of GST Council meeting, headed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, which is schedule on December 18 in the backdrop of lower-than-expected GST collection and pending compensation to many states. Buying got intensified during final hours of trade, as sentiments were buoyed with Former President Pranab Mukherjee’s statement that ‘certain things’ that are happening would have its impact and he was not worried over the economic slowdown. Mukherjee, further said there is nothing wrong in public sector banks needing capital infusion.

All the NSE sectoral indices ended in green, except IT. The top gainers from the F&O segment Indiabulls Housing Finance, Tata Motors and Tata Motors -- DVR. On the other hand, the top losers were Equitas Holdings, Jindal Steel & Power and Ujjivan Financial Services. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 11800 - 12,300 calls and 11,800 - 12,200 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.

India Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge for market’s short term expectation of volatility decreased by 0.22% and reached 13.34.The 50 share Nifty was up by 61.65 points or 0.52% to settle at 11,971.80.

Nifty December 2019 futures closed at 12022.25 (LTP) on Thursday, at a premium of 50.45 points over spot closing of 11971.80, while Nifty January 2019 futures ended at 12069.35(LTP), at a premium of 97.55 points over spot closing. Nifty December futures saw an addition of 0.98 million (mn) units, taking the total outstanding open interest (OI) to 14.53 mn units. The near month derivatives contract will expire on December 26, 2019 (Provisional).

From the most active contracts, Indiabulls Housing Finance December 2019 futures traded at a discount of 0.20 points at 291.80 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 292.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 47,919 (Provisional).

State Bank of India December 2019 futures traded at a premium of 1.15 points at 322.60 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 321.45. The numbers of contracts traded were 32,468 (Provisional).

Tata Consultancy Services December 2019 futures traded at a premium of 13.00 points at 2016.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2003.00. The numbers of contracts traded were 28,899 (Provisional).

Housing Development Finance Corporation December 2019 futures traded at a premium of 9.75 points at 2327.00 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 2317.25. The numbers of contracts traded were 25,134 (Provisional).

Yes Bank December 2019 futures traded at a discount of 5.15 points at 40.15 (LTP) compared with spot closing of 45.30. The numbers of contracts traded were 24,400 (Provisional).

Among, Nifty calls, 12000 SP from the December month expiry was the most active call with an addition of 0.21 million open interests. Among Nifty puts, 11900 from the December month expiry was the most active put with an addition of 0.59 units open interests. The maximum OI outstanding for Calls was at 12000 SP (2.83 mn) and that for Puts was at 12000 SP (3.32 mn). The respective Support and Resistance levels of Nifty are: Resistance 12,006.87 -- Pivot Point 11,970.43 -- Support --11,935.37.

The Nifty Put Call Ratio (PCR) finally stood at 1.27 for December month contract. The top five scrips with highest PCR on Shree Cement (1.50), Shriram Transport Finance Company (1.29), Just Dial (1.21), ICICI Bank (0.96) and Indraprastha Gas (0.92).

Among most active underlying, State Bank of India witnessed an addition of 7.40 million units of Open Interest in the December month futures contract, followed by Reliance Industries witnessing an addition of 3.92 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract, Tata Consultancy Services witnessed an addition of 2.11 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract, Infosys witnessed an addition of 2.73 million units of Open Interest in the December month contract and Tata Motors witnessed an addition of 7.18 million units of Open Interest in the December month future contract (Provisional).